Aspen clubs Old Blue for pro rugby crown

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, May 11, 1997

The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club won the first championship game of the Harp Rugby League at Balboa Stadium Saturday, 22-8, as as its forwards wore down Old Blue of New York.

After a tight first half, Aspen (7-0) dominated second-half play to pull away from Old Blue (5-2) in the first professional rugby title game in America, held in front of a crowd of about 1,000.

Old Blue led after the first half, 5-3, but couldn't find a counter for Aspen's strength up front and in the back line as the second half wound down to a series of Aspen attacks on the Old Blue goal line.

"We knew it was going to be tough up front, but we kept coming at them," said Jason Walker, captain of the Aspen team and most valuable player of the game. "I was very happy with our scrums and line-outs."

The inaugural season of Harp Rugby has been good for the American game, said Walker. "This will change rugby for the better in the States," he said. "Before, you had two or three hard challenges a year. Now, with seven a year, it changes expectations."

The crowd, like most in the league's premier season, was small, but the game was recorded on ESPN2 and will be broadcast locally on July 17. A series of Sunday night rugby cable programs is also planned, as the sport continues its bid to make itself more visible in America.

Saturday was a good beginning, said Sean Santana, 18, a scrum half for the UC-Santa Cruz rugby team who attended the title game with dozens of other club players from the Bay Area.

"I think this is great," he said. "You see older guys playing at something other than club level, and it pushes you to do better.

"None of us are going to be pro football players," said Santana, "but we might turn into pretty good rugby players. This new league gives us something to shoot for."

Aspen's Mark Williams drew first blood five minutes in with a penalty kick for a 3-0 lead, but then things bogged down. Old Blue's Christian Perez-Cobo had a penalty kick bounce off the left upright for no score and Williams missed a kick of his own as both sides moved the ball without breaking through.

Old Blue played 30 minutes of the first half without its back line getting the ball, but then New York took a scrum 5 meters outside the Aspen goal and flanker Ted Loos pushed across for a try and a 5-3 Old Blue lead.

Perez-Cobo's point-after kick went wide and the first half ended with Old Blue leading, 5-3.

But four minutes into the second half Aspen came back with its own try, ending a flurry of passing from 30 meters out, Walker crossing the goal. Williams' point-after kick made it 10-5, Aspen.

Old Blue cashed in a penalty kick to tighten the score to 10-8, but Aspen brought the ball off a line-out, using the massive bulk of its props and locks, to push hooker Ian Walker across the goal, and Williams' kick made it 17-8.

Eight minutes later Lance Singley cut into a corner of the goal after a pass from Williams, who wound through a cordon of Old Blue defenders for 20 meters before setting up Singley and increasing Aspen's lead to 22-8.

Aspen owner Andrew Saltonstall, who said "it's awesome" to win the first American pro rugby trophy, gave credit to his team's forwards for the win. "Old Blue is big," he said, "but we thought if we took it took to them up front we'd tire them out, and I think that's what happened." &lt;